Chapter 108: Operation Verona (4)

“Umm…… Please come inside for now. You will be noticed if you stay outside like this.”
“Then please excuse me, Lord Montague.”

Christelle was smiling as she climbed over the railing at my comment.

Even Eva, who was wearing a dress, safely made it over with Christelle escorting her. Finally, the Imperial Prince, who had been down on the ground, gently jumped up and landed on the balcony.

I looked down at Vice Captain Élisabeth, I mean Mercutio, standing in front of the flower bed.

She saluted with her finger with a smile on her face, as if telling me not to worry. She looked so cool.

“My goodness, it is your bedroom. I truly apologize, Lord Montague.”

Eva became flustered and apologized.

I brushed it past with a smile and placed the red pandas on the ground.

I was quite familiar with receiving surprise guests in here because this is where Sadie frequently ambushed me, but it was awkward receiving two ladies in here.

I placed the two ladies on the two single couches away from the bed and pulled up a chair to sit by them.

Imperial Prince Cédric seemed to have no plans on participating as he was standing by the balcony with his arms crossed.

Percy flew over and landed on his shoulder.

“Let me get some tea.”
“Wooooooooooow!”

Eva, the young lady who had been embarrassed until just now, quietly clapped with joy.

This definitely did not feel like an undercover operation.

“His Royal Highness, no…… Did you come after hearing the story from Lord Capulet?”

I poured some warm marigold tea and handed it to them as I asked.

I debated whether I really needed to use the code names, but I chose to do so because Christelle really seemed to want me to use them.

I kept four tea cups in the room because there were times I sometimes drank tea with Benjamin and Ganael.

Eva was happy that there were three flowers in her tea. Christelle was the one to speak.

“Yes sir. I thought that Lord Montague would definitely wish to help Sir Geens even while under confinement. That was why I requested an audience with Lord Capulet. We came together because Lady Tybalt said that she received your message this morning, Lord Montague.

I nodded my head.

I had sent letters to Sand and ‘Tybalt’ a.k.a. Eva, early this morning.

Ganael had told me they were delivered properly as well.

“Then how did you manage to stay here until it was night time? The carriage from the Duke’s Estate would have been sent outside the Imperial Palace.”
“I’ve been staying out overnight since yesterday to see you, Lord Montague. I told my mother back at the Duke’s Estate that I will be staying at the Moutet Count’s Estate for a few days. I snuck into Lady Mercutio’s work carriage this morning to enter the Imperial Palace together. Lady Tybalt happened to be visiting the Count’s Estate as well.”
“Then did you spend all day in the carriage……”
“No, I was hiding in Romero Palace since entering the Imperial Palace. There are enough empty rooms there that I was able to relax with David-nim’s help.

I couldn’t help but be shocked at this.

Two noble young ladies snuck into the Imperial Palace with the help of the Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard in the morning to see me.

The Imperial Prince hid the two of them in his palace and brought them here.

Empress Frédérique would be quite angry if she learned about this but none of their gazes looked as if they had any hesitations.

I couldn’t help but be touched. I tightly clenched my teacup.

“Thank you very much. I’m sure that it was not an easy decision.”
“No, it was very easy.”

Christelle smiled brightly.

She placed the eye patch back on her head and made eye contact with me.

“Lord Montague always treats us well. That was why there wasn’t even a need to contemplate it. We are friends and partners.”

She quickly added on about how it was only temporary.

I had not done that to receive anything in response but I was thankful that she saw it positively.

Eva chimed in at that moment.

“But we still need an explanation. I am happy to let you borrow my name if you need it, Lord Montague, but this is what my mother told me. ‘Know what you are doing before you do it, Eva.’”

Her brown eyes sparkled firmly. I had definitely asked Eva for help through the letter.

They had a right to know the circumstances since the target of this operation was the Empress.

I nodded my head and calmly started to speak.

“There is something I wish to say to her Majesty in person. It is related to Sir Geens……”

It was a repeat of what I shared with the Imperial Prince last night, but that did not make it any easier to do so.

Christelle and Eva looked astonished once I explained everything.

Christelle looked as if she might beat someone up right now.

“Seriously, this Prince Consort motherf…… My apologies. But that shit…… How can he call himself a human being? Did you really have to suffer under such a bastard this whole time, your highness?”

Her voice turned loud and quiet as she brushed her face with her hands.

She must have been finding it difficult to hold back her swearing and her anger as her breathing was rough and she seemed to have forgotten about the code names.

“I…… Would like to help Sir Geens. He is honestly in a terrible situation and I released a lot of my anger that day. I feel like we need to help him get revenge on the Prince Consort…… How can we let him just be on the receiving end?”

She looked up at the ceiling as if she was frustrated as she spoke. She even threw back the tea in one shot as if it was water.

Eva, who was covering her mouth with a handkerchief, asked me a question.

“But Lord Montague, are you not angry at Sir Geens? Are you by chance…… What they call a pushover?”
“Excuse me?”
“I know that he had his circumstances. But he tricked the three of you many times. If it was me, I would be so upset that I would never be able to trust him again.”

The child’s expression was sullen. I was silent for a moment. It definitely could seem that way.

I debated how to explain my actions before deciding to be honest.

I have lived longer than Eva but life was always difficult.

“Sir Geens didn’t have a normal chance.”
“……”
“It is true that he lied to us. However, we don’t know what would have happened if his sick son wasn’t being held hostage by the Prince Consort and Sir Geens had a chance to treat us honorably. He was deprived of his chance to do so from the beginning.”
“……”
“I just thought that Sir Geens deserved a chance to start again from the same starting point. That is all.”

I smiled bitterly as I looked at the child.

Eva looked at me as if she was a bit shocked before falling deep into thought.

Her mind seemed to be in a complicated state right now. Christelle solemnly chimed in at that moment.

“You will need to go to the Empress Palace to see her Majesty, but realistically speaking, that will be difficult.”
“Yes. It will be difficult to infiltrate the Empress Palace and her Chief of Staff, Laura, will never let us through.”

I answered before looking up at the Imperial Prince. The two of us made eye contact for a moment.

“Is there no way to invite her Majesty to Romero Palace? Juliette Palace is right in front of Romero Palace so I should be able to see her if I can just safely make it across the garden.”

The Imperial Prince frowned as soon as I said that.

‘What is your problem? This method is more realistic than that face of yours.’

“Does L, Lord Capulet have a paramour?”

Eva sounded completely shocked as she looked at me.

Christelle and I had no idea what she was talking about and tilted our heads in confusion.

The young lady realized that we were completely clueless in this aspect and gasped before starting to explain.

“In Riester, there is a tradition where an unmarried child serves the parents a feast when they introduce their lover to their parents for the first time.”

‘That……’

“It is usually reserved for someone they are meeting seriously. I heard that her Majesty held a feast for the late Empress when she introduced her to my uncle as well. My grandparents were extremely against it.”

The uncle she was talking about right now was Prince Consort Alexandre, who was the eldest child of the House of Blanquer.

There was a short but intense moment of silence between Christelle, the Imperial Prince, and myself.

“Will you hold a feast at Romero Palace to invite her Majesty? You can’t say that Lady Mercutio is your lover because she has a fiance, I can’t do it because I am your cousin, the only person remaining is……”

“Mm, no.”

Christelle sharply cut her off. Eva flinched.

The MC’s blue eyes sparkled like will-o’-the-wisps.

She looked as if she would make us disappear without a trace if anybody mentioned the idea that was on our minds.

“This is not it. Please come up with another idea, Lerd Mentege.” (TL: Sounds like this because she’s clenching her teeth or something)

“Please calm down, Tom Cruise-nim.”

I consoled her. The Imperial Prince spoke in a sharp tone.

“It’ll be easier if you flew over.”
“Fly over?”
“Didn’t you use the divine item that day?”

‘I knew he would remember Percy’s transformation.’

I looked at the chimney bird dozing off on his shoulder as I responded.

“Percy…… Is indeed a divine item.”
“He is the ‘Ark of the Wind Deity’ we saw at the Bell Tower, right?”

Christelle quickly asked.

“Yes. However, he has not transformed into his main body even once since that day. He won’t listen even if I ask. I am not his master either.”
“You are not his master despite him working so hard to protect you?”
“That is what he told me?”
“He told you?”

Christelle and the Imperial Prince both looked at me with questioning gazes.

I really felt that they were the perfect match in times like this. I shook my head and smiled.

“I know you don’t have much time so I will share this story about Percy at another time. It is kind of long. The immediate issue is discussing inviting her Majesty to Romero Palace-”
“I decline.”
“I don’t want to, your highness.”

The two of them immediately revealed their repulsion.

Eva looked at the three of us as if she felt awkward before peeking at Percy, who was stuck to the Imperial Prince.

She must have gotten curious after hearing that this regular-looking bird was a divine item.

I hugged Demy, who was climbing onto my knees, and started to calculate things in my mind.

No matter how I looked at it, inviting her Majesty to Romero Palace was the quickest and most rational method.

The Empress’ busy schedule will find a way to be rescheduled if the excuse was that the Imperial Prince was inviting her to introduce her to his special someone.

It was the best route in order to see the Empress before the crown princess arrives.

It sounded like such a good plan that I thought that the author might have arranged things to be like this.

‘Yes, it might also be a golden opportunity to tie the two of them together.’

I cautiously looked at Christelle and the Imperial Prince.

The way they avoided my gaze and feigned a look of deep contemplation because they were worried that I would ask them to do it were like beautiful works of art.

‘They might hate it so much right now but they might be thankful to me in the future if their relationship goes well.’

I scratched my cheek and started to think.

‘What can I do to get their voluntary involvement? What can I do? Using my looks…… Won’t work because the Imperial Prince is more handsome than I am. Feigning sickness…… Won’t work because I am not sick. Mm.’

“I’m hungry.”

I mumbled as a test. I peeked to see that all three of them were looking at me.

I felt a bit embarrassed but I thought about the sleeping Sir Geens and his son to help me persist.

‘What am I not willing to do at this point?’

“I did eat dinner but… I didn’t really have an appetite, so…… I only ate two servings. Hahaha.”
“……”

‘Man, I suck at acting.’

I was suffering from mental distress before burying my face into Demy’s warm body.

The red panda whined and dangled on my neck.

It looked as if my embarrassment was being transferred to him.

“I wish I could help Sir Geens, but…… I haven’t been that interested in food lately. I have no desires and the ether in my body doesn’t seem to be circulating as well either.”
“……”
“I think that it would be really great if someone would help me meet her Majesty……”

‘Please say something. Someone, anyone. I’ll totally stop right away if someone tells me to stop!’

I bit down on my lips and looked down. At that moment…

– Cruuuuuuu.

Demy, who was hiding in my arms, let out an odd cry. It sounded similar to a stomach grumbling.

Christelle immediately jumped up from her seat. I flinched and looked at her.

“Tom Cruise-nim. This…”
“I’ll do it.”
“Excuse me?”

‘This works?’

“Why are you not eating properly, your highness? Sir Geens is truly in the wrong. I guess we have no choice but to do everything we can to keep him alive in order for you to get a proper apology.”
“That is true, but…”
“Whatever. We will tell her Majesty that we are dating and then tell her after dinner that we broke up.”
“That’s right. Yes you can.”

I couldn’t tell whether Christelle was angry or reading an announcement.

I just barely managed to breathe as I responded. She quickly turned around and glared at the Imperial Prince.

She looked as if she could turn him into stone with her gaze alone.

The Imperial Prince then glared at me with an extremely scary gaze.

‘Crap, did he find out that it was an act?’

It was at that moment.

“Ugh!”

I sounded like a dying demonic beast as I curled forward.

It was because Demy poked my stomach with his front paw.

‘That hurts!’

“……I will accept your suggestion.”

The Imperial Prince spoke while gritting his teeth.